6: Spotlight On Courage: Vivian Doctora’s Leap of Faith

Today we are excited to bring you another installment of our “Spotlights on Extraordinary People”, where we have conversations with people in our communities, and more importantly, share how they are making a difference in the world. Everyone has a story and we can’t wait to share this one with you.

This episode features Vivian Doctora, an inspiring mother and wife who quite literally took a leap of faith to start her own business, realizing that there never is a “perfect” time to pursue your dreams. As you’ll hear, this life-changing decision has not only paid dividends for Vivian and her family, but the impact on her community has been incredible (and she’s only just getting started)!

Vivian is a long-time resident of Bloomington/Normal, Illinois, and an alumni of Illinois State University. She is a proud owner of Bao Destination (ghost kitchen concept) and R Marketplace (First Food Hall of Bloomington/Normal.) After 21 years of working in the corporate world, she decided to take a chance and become an entrepreneur a few months ago. In addition to being a business owner, she is also a mom of her twins (Riley and Haley) and is married to husband Redney.

Although Vivian and Redney both have lived in different states, Bloomington feels like home to them. They both fell in love with the city because of the friendships that they have built throughout the years.

The opportunity to use food to share her culture and connect with people in the community is the driving force behind her creation of Bao Destination and R Marketplace (Opening Soon.) She is passionate about helping others and hoping her business venture will allow her to give back to the community that has given her so much.

As always, we invite and welcome your input! Send us your thoughts on what you like about the podcast, what you want to see more of, and who we should invite into the conversation as guests on upcoming episodes. You can always reach us by email, respectcircles@gmail.com, on social media at https://www.facebook.com/respectcircles and https://www.instagram.com/respectcircles/ or by viewing our website at www.respectcircles.com.

Thanks so much for listening! We’d love to have you subscribe to the podcast and leave us a rating and review. See you next week!

In this episode you’ll hear:

Vivian’s inspiring story and how she got to where she is today [2:44]
Where she finds the courage and confidence to pursue her dreams, day-in and day-out [7:31]
Some of the challenges that Vivian has faced going from a corporate position to owning a business [9:22]
The ways she helps others embrace the real significance of her product [15:02]
What Vivian is doing to encourage others to start thinking differently about Asian-owned businesses [17:22]
How community plays a key role in her business right now, and her future plans [21:32]
The best advice Vivian gives for young entrepreneurs looking to chase their dreams in business [26:27]